I still believe Piquet will be in a Turner Truck. Remember there was 3 full-time and 1 part-time seat last year. Maybe Turner is looking at taking that 4th truck full-time also next year. Edit: although thinking about it, the part-time ride will probably be shared out to Kyle Larson, Brandon Mac, or Dylan Kwasaneski.

Kwasneiwski won't be eligible for a NCWTS license until the end of May. You have to be 18 to run in the touring series plus he won't graduate high school until then. Partial season for him sounds right, after he's old enough and finishes school.

Edit: Looks like a couple weeks ago they changed the rules so you can run road courses and 1.1 mile and smaller ovals in NCWTS at 16.

Yup. Looking at the 2013 schedule, that means 10/22 races he (and all kids 16 and over) are eligible. Thats quite a chunk of the season, and plenty of opportunities for teams to have a look how they handle the 'big' leagues.

Yup. Looking at the 2013 schedule, that means 10/22 races he (and all kids 16 and over) are eligible. Thats quite a chunk of the season, and plenty of opportunities for teams to have a look how they handle the 'big' leagues.

I'd reckon for 2013 he's a full season of ARCA (to get used to some of the tracks) and some truck dates here and there. He could run K&N East where that talent pool seems to be a bit deeper but for the most part I think he's proven he belongs at this level. He's a good kid, I ran a couple of seasons when he was running at the LVMS Bullring. Feeling around here is he'll be the next Busch in terms of competitiveness but behaving along the lines of a young Jimmie Johnson or Jeff Gordon instead of the a-holes the Busch brothers are.

If it leads to a competitive truck team, I fully support this. Brennan Newberry is only 22 years old and only run in sub-par last year. It'll be interesting to see if he is worth a seat or just in Pop's favor..

NASCAR provided teams with the long-awaited rules package for the new car that will debut in the 2013 Daytona 500 in February. The first test with the package, which was distributed Tuesday, will be held Dec. 11-12 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. About 14 drivers so far are on the list to test, but teams will be allowed for this session only to bring in multiple drivers and additional cars to participate. Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president for competition, said there are a few minor things the governing body continues to work on to improve the handling of the cars around each other, but added this basically is the package teams will have for Daytona. "We've told them what splitters and spoilers they'll use," said Pemberton, noting the splitters will have a different shape to improve aerodynamics. "They know what they need for suspensions and stuff like that." Getting the final rules package has been a concern for several team owners. Pemberton said the package was the culmination of more than a year of research and testing to find what will improve cars being able to pass and race better around each other. The front grandstand at Charlotte Motor Speedway will be open and free to the general public.

I like as few exemptions as possible. Previous winners and pole positions sounds good to me.

JMHO

Agreed, I'm glad they've gone back to the pole winners format, which was unique and most importantly added weight and motivation to earning pole positions. Recently it had deteriorated to a watered down all star race.

If they wanted to add an opportunity for those who didn't qualify, maybe a short prelim like before the Charlotte event?

Plus a whole new level of hype can be added to the qualifying telecasts

Different times back then for the regs -- what's a few cubic inches engine disparity among friends?;)

Articles have mentioned how Jr Johnson's team quickly became less of a force when many of these when certain inspectors were relieved and things tightened....

Not to mention that in those days you had the likes of Smokey Yunnick and others of his ilk to contend with...Nowadays NASCAR would have kittens if you showed up at the track like that. Unless of course your name is Chad Knaus, in that case every wheel well would be the same as his in a week no matter whether it worked or not.

JTG Daugherty looks to add 2nd team: Mike Bagley, co-host of The Morning Drive on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio 90 reports via Twitter that JTG Daugherty team owner Brad Daugherty told them that they [JTG Daugherty Racing] are looking to add a 2nd car in the 1st half of this [Sprint Cup Series] season. The team currently runs Bobby Labonte in the #47 Toyota. Rumors in late 2012 has David Reutimann as a possible driver for a 2nd JTG Daugherty car in 2013.(12-12-2012)

Different times back then for the regs -- what's a few cubic inches engine disparity among friends?;)

Articles have mentioned how Jr Johnson's team quickly became less of a force when many of these when certain inspectors were relieved and things tightened....

Great times John. I've been reading a lot of stuff from the c.1970-1987 era the last couple of months, mostly because of researching images of the drivers firesuits (for the patch collection), then getting stuck reading articles for hours on end.

Not sure Jim and Ross if this was the same crash with Beauchamp and Lee Petty, was it?

Paul beat me to it, but yes...Beauchamp and Lee Petty in one of the Daytona qualifying races in 1961. The front bumper of Beauchamp's Chevy hooked the rear bumper of Petty's Plymouth and up they went. Essentially a career ender for both. Beauchamp had a head injury while Lee Petty had many broken bones. Beauchamp never made another start in NASCAR's top series and Petty, while he returned for a few races, was pretty much done. A few years later, Beauchamp was a flagman at a short track in the Midwest.

There was a rather vivid account in Richard's first (auto)biography.

Lee had harsh words for Beauchamp, even many years later (I believe he called him an "idiot that nearly killed me"). Then again, there are plenty that had/have harsh words for Lee's driving. I talked to one driver from the era who had nothing good to say about Lee's driving style, other than to say that later on Lee finally realized he didn't have to drive over and through people.

Great times John. I've been reading a lot of stuff from the c.1970-1987 era the last couple of months, mostly because of researching images of the drivers firesuits (for the patch collection), then getting stuck reading articles for hours on end.

Fun stuff.

One has to be careful because when it comes to racing history, so much of it are the "tall tales" that have been taken as fact. A shame because these guys were colorful enough without the embellishment.

Hard to find now, but Greg Fielden's books were a great race by race look, along with seasonal overviews.

1970-1987? Heck, I was there! I attended several races during that time*;)